Reports from New England are that valuable Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker has an undisclosed injury and could miss the first week of the season. We don't know exactly what's wrong with Welker because Patriots coach Bill Belichick doesn't want anyone to know, and nobody is more secretive about injuries. Maybe this bothers you to no end; certainly no coach gets complained about more by fantasy owners seeking information, at least now that Mike Shanahan is out of work.
However, I do trust Belichick enough to not care so much what info he's hiding, and presume he's doing the right thing behind the scenes. I trusted him when he picked up Randy Moss for one measly second-day draft pick a few years back. That kind of worked out, don't you think? Forever backup Matt Cassel stepped right in for Tom Brady and won 11 games. That worked out, and then Belichick sold high. I've seen Fred Taylor and Joey Galloway taken in most of my drafts. If they were on the Bills, you wouldn't be drafting them. The Pats have a dynamic offense, of course, but we also trust that Belichick will use players properly and make proper decisions. It's a bit ridiculous that Belichick has a bad reputation for hiding information. He wins, doesn't he? What else matters?
Welker is a point-per-reception monster, arguably the one player helped the most in fantasy drafts by that scoring format. I don't know if he'll play Week 1. I don't think he knows. But I do trust Belichick to know best.
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Eric Karabell
